


Sugar and Spice

by ParchmentandQuill8



Series: We'll Get There in No Time [12]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Drabbles, F/M, Kid Fic, oneshots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-09-15 18:55:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9251339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParchmentandQuill8/pseuds/ParchmentandQuill8
Summary: A collection of one shots centered around Leonard and Sara's daughter Rory





	1. French Braids

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve gotten a couple requests for Rory-related fics, so I decided to just lump them all together in one series called Sugar and Spice, a collection of drabbles about Leonard and Sara’s daughter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was requested ages ago because of something I wrote in another fic a while back. It might have been Mickey Mouse, but I might also be wrong)

“Len,” Sara called from somewhere in the house, “I’m running late, do you mind getting Rory ready for gymnastics? You just need to get her into a leotard and do her hair.”

“Sure.” Leonard. He found his four year old daughter Rory lying halfway under her bed.

“Whatcha doing, kid?” Leonard asked, sitting beside Rory.

“I’m battling the monsters,” Rory replied, her voice muffled.

“Well, you’re gonna be late for gymnastics if you don’t get ready, so how about you wrap up your battle?”

Rory shimmied out from underneath the bed.

“Why isn’t Mommy helping me get ready?”

“Because Mommy’s running late, and she wants to get you to gymnastics on time.”

“Why’s Mommy running late?”

“She overslept.” Leonard lied. 

Sara had _actually_ been helping Rip with a mission and had just returned from Cairo, 1000 A.D, but she and Leonard had decided when Rory was born that they wouldn’t tell her about that part of their lives until she was older and they could ensure she wouldn’t go around telling her friends (or, more importantly, her friends’ parents) that her parents were time-traveling superheroes.

Leonard waited for Rory to pick out a leotard — she opted for a shiny purple one — and helped her put it on. He then grabbed a hairbrush and some elastics from the top of Rory’s dresser and sat down on her bed.

“How does Mommy do your hair?” Leonard asked as Rory climbed up on the bed and sat in his lap.

“Up,” Rory replied simply.

“Yes, I know that,” Leonard chuckled, “but how?”

“She does it different ways. Some days she does a ponytail, and some days she does a bun or braids or somethin’ like that.”

“How do you want me to do it, then?”

“I like that braid that goes all the way up my head.” Rory pointed to a point on the top of her scalp. Leonard thought for a moment about what she could be referring to.

“A French braid?”

“Yeah, that.”

Leonard picked up the hairbrush and began running it through Rory’s blonde hair. “You know, when Auntie Lisa and I were younger, I used to do her hair for school every day.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I got pretty good too.” he began to braid Rory’s hair, weaving the three separated strands across each other. Rory leaned into his touch, resting her back against his torso and tipping her head down so he could reach her hair. “So what’s going on at gymnastics today?”

“My teacher’s gonna decide if she wants to put me in the big kid class instead of the one I’m in now,” Rory replied.

“You’re getting that good, are you?”

Rory shrugged. “Last time I got bored, and the big kid class on the other part of the room looked more fun so I went there instead.”

“Rory, honey,” Leonard chuckled, “you can’t just leave your class if you get bored.”

“But they only do easy stuff,” she whined. “I can do somersaults already, but we only do those. The big kids do hard stuff like handstands and backbends.”

Leonard decided to drop the matter, both because there was no sense stopping Rory once she got her mind on something — she was like her mother in that way — and if she was wanted to get into the older gymnastics class, she would not rest until it happened, but also because he’d finally finished Rory’s braid. He tied an elastic around the end and clipped back any stray hairs.

“Done,” he said.

“I wanna see,” Rory said. Leonard lifted her up to the mirror hanging over the dresser. Rory tipped her forehead down to get a better look at her hair. Slowly, her mouth spread into a wide smile.

“You do braids better than Mommy,” she commented, running a hand over her hair.

“What does Daddy do better than me?” Sara asked, appearing in the doorway.

“I want Daddy to do my hair every day!” Rory exclaimed, bounding over to her mother. Sara looked over Leonard’s handiwork.

“Wow, Len,” Sara said, looking impressed, “Good job. I officially resign. The job’s all yours.”

“Now you get to do it, Daddy,” Rory giggled.

“I’m honored,” Leonard smiled.

“Ready to go, Rory?” Sara asked, tipping her head towards the door. Rory nodded. “Okay, go get your shoes and wait by the car. I’ll be there in a second, I just want to talk to Daddy.”

Rory nodded again and bounded enthusiastically out of the room.

“It sounds like she’s inherited our distaste for rules.” Leonard said, raising his eyebrows.

“Yeah, I’m sort of surprised the gymnastics teacher can tolerate her so well.” Sara shook her head.

“She’s a good kid.”

“Yeah, she is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Chapter 2 is coming up soon!


	2. Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt for the lovely spartanlady16 on Tumblr. She requested a kidfic of interrupted date night.

Leonard and Sara gained a lot when they had their daughter Rory, but they also lost some things too.

One of those things was the ability to spend time together alone.

Sure, they spent time _together_ , but that was always with Rory, doing things like watching animated movies, playing pretend or dress up or something of the like.

It didn’t help that Rory had always been clingy. They’d thought it was just a baby thing, a phase she would eventually grow out of, but she wasn’t a baby anymore and not much changed.

Nearly three years old and she screamed whenever they tried to leave her.

The last they’d gone out they’d nearly had to pry Rory off of Leonard with a crowbar. The babysitter had then informed them when they returned home that Rory had cried the entire duration of time they’d been gone.

They didn’t go out much after that.

A few months later, they got called on to help the Flash and asked Lisa to watch Rory for the day. Leonard and Sara used it as an opportunity to go out to dinner, just the two of them.

They were just sitting down when Leonard’s phone rang.

“It’s Lisa,” he said.

“That’s not a good sign,” Sara commented.

It wasn’t.

“Hey Lis,” Leonard said, answering the phone.

“Hey Len,” Lisa’s voice came, “Do you by any chance keep children’s Tylenol anywhere?”

“Why?” he asked cautiously.

“I think Rory might be getting sick.”

“And why is that?”

“Well, she was saying she didn’t feel well and she has a fever and she threw up twice,” Lisa rattled off.

“So she isn’t getting sick, she _is_ sick,” Leonard finished.

“Yeah.”

“Tylenol’s in the upstairs bathroom closet,” he said, “We’ll be home in fifteen minutes.”

“No-no-no,” Lisa said hurridly, “Enjoy your night out. I’ll hold down the fort, it’s fine.”

But Leonard and Sara were both already standing up, gathering their things.

“Believe me,” Leonard said, the phone sandwiched between his cheek and his shoulder as he put his coat on, “we’ve tried to go out enough times to know we’d probably enjoy ourselves more at home.”

* * *

 

They made it back to their house in just under twenty minutes, Leonard grumbling the whole way about traffic, even though it was nearly nonexistent that night.

They were greeted by the sounds of crying, and barely had the front door closed when the noise got louder and the pitter-patter of little feet against the hardwood floors was added to the din.

Rory looked miserable. She was very pale with the exception of two very flushed cheeks. Her face was puffy from crying, tear-tracks staining her skin.

“Oh honey,” Sara said pitifully as she crouched down, opening her arms to her daughter. Rory walked into them, practically collapsing against her, “I’m so sorry you don’t feel good.”

Sara lifted Rory as she stood up. She started heading upstairs, but stopped a few steps up.

“Hey Lis,” she called over the railing, “Thanks for watching Rory.”

“No problem,” Lisa replied, just now rounding the corner into the main foyer. Sara continued upstairs, rubbing a hand comfortingly up and down Rory’s back.

Lisa smirked at Leonard.

“Good job, kid,” he said, pulling her into a hug.

“Your kid’s a piece of work,” Lisa muttered, her eyes shining as she looked up at her brother.

“I know,” he replied, smirking.

“I should head out,” Lisa said, “I’ll tell Cisco you say hi.”

“Or you could not do that,” Leonard replied. Lisa laughed.

“Let me know when Rory starts feeling better,” Lisa pulled her brother into another hug, “I love you, Len.”

“Love you too Lis.”

* * *

After Lisa left, Leonard headed upstairs. He glanced into Rory’s room where Sara was crouched beside Rory’s bed, running a hand comfortingly up and down the little girl’s back.

He continued down the hallway to his bedroom where he put his parka and cold gun, along with the various weapons Sara had brought with her on their trip to help out the Flash, in their cases hidden in the walls behind paintings and shelves.

A while later, Sara returned to their room.

“I think she’s finally asleep,” she said, “I feel bad. I know how much she hates being sick.”

“Well nobody likes being sick,” Leonard pointed out.

“You know what I mean,” Sara replied, rolling her eyes.

“I guess at this point we should stop trying to go out,” he said, “It’s not gonna happen.”

“I dunno,” Sara said, “I’ll bet we could fine fun stuff to do here.”

“Oh really,” Leonard smirked as Sara stepped towards him, their hips brushing, “What did you have in mind.”

Just before their lips touched, they heard Rory calling them from her room.

“Mommy,” she said desperately, “I don’t feel good.”

“I’m coming honey,” she called. She turned back to Leonard and sighed, “Maybe next time.”

“I’m holding you to that.”

“I’ll bet you will.”


	3. PTA Moms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the idea for this after watching Bad Moms

“Don’t forget about the bake sale tonight,” Leonard said, “at the library.”

“Another one? Wasn’t there one three days ago.”

“Yes, but that one was for raising money for a new playground and this one is for…” Leonard hesitated, “Look, I don’t fucking know, but you’re supposed to be there.”

“Don’t worry about it, Len,” Sara replied, “I’ll be there.”

Leonard was heading off on a several day trip to Star City, where Captain Cold was going to be helping the Green Arrow out with a few things. He’d never gone to help Oliver without Sara and was clearly trying to hide his nerves by obsessing over what he was leaving behind. He was normally the one to do that sort of PTA thing. He went to the events and ran the carpool, not because Sara didn’t want to, but because he _did._ His father had never done any of that stuff, neither for him nor Lisa. Leonard wanted to make sure that he got a chance to be involved in that part of his daughter’s life.

“The dessert for the bake sale is in the fridge,” Leonard said as Sara started pushing him towards the front door.

“I know,” Sara said.

“And it—”

“It starts at four and ends at seven thirty,” Sara finished.

“And—”

“And watch out for Satan’s spawn Brenda,” Sara ended his sentence again, “I know Len, I’ve got it under control.”

“But—”

Sara cut him off again, this time by pressing a kiss to his lips, draping her arms around his neck. His arms snaked around her waist, pulling her up on her toes.

Sara pulled away first.

“You have to go, Len. You’re gonna miss your train.”

“That’s okay,” he murmured, leaning in for another kiss.

“I’m serious,” she laughed, starting to push him towards the door again, “Be nice to Ollie, okay? If he gives you a hard time, just ignore him. And say hi to Laurel for me.”

“I will,” he nodded.

“See you in a few days,” Sara said. She stepped towards him again, this time for a hug, and she wrapped her arms around his middle, his going around her shoulders as he rested his chin on top of her head.

After a few seconds, Sara stepped away.

“Rory,” she called upstairs, “Come say bye to Daddy before he leaves.”

They heard the sounds of footsteps as Rory descended down the hallway towards the stairs. She made it three quarters of the way down before she launched herself into her father’s arms.

“You gotta stop doing that, honey,” Leonard said, unable to hide a smile, “One day I’m not gonna catch you and you’re gonna get hurt.”

“But it’s fun!” Rory giggled.

“I don’t doubt that.”

“Do you have to go?” she said, pouting.

“Unfortunately, yes, but I’ll be back Monday night. That’s not too long, right?”

Rory said nothing more, but the sad pout didn’t leave her face.

“Have fun at the bake sale,” he said, putting Rory down, “I’ll see you in a few days.”

* * *

 

Rory did in fact have fun at the bake sale; the event took place at a library, so Rory had found a beanbag chair and a pile of books and hadn’t moved since.

Sara was the one not entirely enjoying herself. Having not gone to many PTA events, she didn’t really know any of the other parents, which wouldn’t have bothered her too much if they didn’t keep wanting to introduce themselves to her.

“You’re Victoria’s mom, right?”

The sickly sweet voice came from behind Sara. She turned around and saw a platinum blonde middle age women in a purple tracksuit.

“Rory, yeah,” Sara answered.

“Victoria’s fine,” the woman said. Sara raised her eyebrows.

“You’re telling me how to say my own kid’s name, this conversation is going to go really well,” she muttered under her breath. The woman apparently hadn’t heard her because she held out her hand.

“I’m Brenda, Lizzie’s mom, PTA president.”

“Sara,” she replied, begrudgingly accepting the handshake Brenda offered her. Sara knew Brenda’s daughter Lizzie only by name, and that she was one of the kids giving Rory a hard time lately.

“We haven’t see you at too many of our events,” she said. The words she was saying _sounded_ polite, but the sweetness of the voice paired with her one raised eyebrow said otherwise, “Actually, I don’t think we’ve ever seen you at all. Your husband — Leonard, isn’t it — is usually who we see. Where is he?”

“Business trip,” Sara answered, wishing to not be having this conversation right now.

“How interesting. And what does he do, exactly?” Before Sara could answer, Brenda had barreled on, “I must admit I do know about the business he was a part of not too long ago. Are you sure you want to raising Victoria in that environment?”

“ _Rory_ ,” Sara said emphatically, “loves her dad, so yes, I do want to raise her in that environment. And anyway, I don’t think it’s for you to say—”

“Actually, that reminds me of something,” Brenda interrupted, “I happened to notice Victoria isn’t enrolled in any school-sanctioned summer programs yet—”

“How could you possibly know that?” Sara asked, but Brenda barreled on.

“—and I just wanted to give you a heads up that they are filling up fast, especially the Mandarin and cello camps.”

“First of all, of course my kid isn’t signed up for summer camps yet. It’s February, and second of all, even if she was, it wouldn’t be Mandarin, or cello. She’d be miserable.”

“Don’t you want your daughter to be well-rounded.”

“You know what,” Sara shrugged, “I don’t. Not really. I _do_ want to make sure she’s a good kid. You might want to think about the same.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t think I need to explain myself,” Sara replied. She was angry now and she wasn’t even bothering to contain it. “I hate this idea that you can only be a good mom if your kid speaks six languages and plays a bunch of instruments.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sara saw a few moms nodding in agreement so she went on.

“A good mom should be determined by her ability to raise _decent kids_. It shouldn’t be based on how many PTA meetings you go to. I don’t want to be here, my kid doesn’t want to be here, do you Rory?”

Rory looked up and shook her head.

“Do you want to go get ice cream instead?”

Rory nodded.

“Okay, then let’s go.”

“Cool!” Rory exclaimed. She jumped up and took Sara’s hand as they left the library.

* * *

 

The next Monday, Sara saw Brenda and a few of the other PTA moms again. With Leonard still away in Star City, Sara had to drive Rory to school.

She pulled into the driveway and stopped to let Rory out.

“Have fun at school,” she called, “I love you!”

“Love you too, Mommy,” she said before turning towards the elementary school building.

Sara was just about to pull out of the parking lot when she heard a familiar voice call her name.

“Sara!”

She turned and saw Brenda standing a few feet away from her car.

“I hope you’re feeling better after your outburst yesterday,” she said, with a simpering smile on her face that didn’t quite reach her eyes, “We’re having a PTA meeting in the gymnasium tonight. We’ll be discussing the quality of the basketballs in the rec center. Will we see you there?”

Sara tipped her head to the side in mock consideration. Then she turned to look straight into Brenda’s face.

“No.”

As she peeled out of the the parking lot, she caught a glimpse of Brenda’s astonished face. The only thing on her mind was that she didn’t give a damn at all.


	4. Goldfish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rory gets her first pet

Rory’s goldfish had a short and rather unfortunate life. Rory had been begging for a fish for a few weeks before she returned from a carnival at the elementary school with a water-filled plastic bag and a orange fish in tow (which Leonard and Sara thought was awfully convenient).

“Did you give it a name?” Sara had asked after deciding that arguing against the fish was, at this point, futile.

“Uh-huh,” Rory replied, “Hades.”

“Like the Greek god of death?” she confirmed skeptically.

“Yup,” Rory nodded proudly, “and his tank is called Elysium. Geddit? ‘Cause Elysium is like the good part of the Underworld. You don’t really wanna be in the Underworld, but if you’re there you want to be in Elysium. Fish don’t really want to be out of the ocean, but if they are they want to be in a tank.”

“Ohhh,” Sara drew the word out as Leonard hid laughter behind a cough, “I think it might be time to lay off the Greek Mythology.”

Hades the Goldfish lived a troubled life for a number of reasons. One of them was Rory herself. At only six years old, she was not yet ready to care for a pet, and frequently forgot to feed him and in his entire short life, his tank never once got cleaned. Another was Snowball, their five-year-old cat who had it out for Hades the minute she lay eyes on him. Sara often found herself pulling the cat away from the tank and once Snowball had even knocked it over, and Rory had entered the room to see Hades the Goldfish lying in a puddle of water and colorful rocks on her bedroom floor.

Rory had made a dashing rescue, but after that, she realized that the prospect of having a fish was more exciting than _actually_ having a fish. So she did what any six-year-old would do: she forgot about Hades entirely.

A week or so later, Mick brought up the goldfish at dinner.

“Kid, how’s the fish?” he'd asked.

“Oh, he’s dead,” Rory replied casually.

“What?” Leonard asked as Sara’s fork clattered against her plate, “When?”

“I dunno,” she shrugged, “When was Valentine’s day?”

“Over a week ago, honey,” Sara said, “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I guess I forgot,” Rory replied, “I was looking in the tank and he was just kinda floating in the middle of the water and I looked closer and I realized he didn’t have any eyeballs.”

Sara closed her eyes in defeat as Mick snorted. Even Leonard looked like he was trying to suppress laughter.

“Did you find the eyes?” Mick asked.

“Yeah,” Rory nodded, twirling her fork around in her spaghetti, “They were floating at the top of the water. They were all swell-y and gross.”

“Cool,” he grunted.

“So you’ve had a decomposing fish corpse in your room for over a week,” Sara said, trying to get a hold on the situation, “and you’re just telling us this now.”

“Yeah,” Rory nodded, “I was gonna feed him to Snowball later.”

“Oh my God, Rory,” Sara said, shaking her head as Leonard and Mick burst out laughing, “No!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Borrowed this idea from a friend of mine, who actually did this (she's not six though, she's almost eighteen, so I don't think she has the same excuse).


	5. Gymnastics

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Neil12 on Fanfiction.net requested after my fic Mickey Mouse that I write this. Thanks for the idea, it was a ton of fun to write!

Life for an undead assassin and a reformed master criminal can’t be normal. Leonard and Sara may not be traveling through time anymore, but they still got their fair share of mayhem. They still helped their old team of Legends whenever they needed it, and helped Barry with his relentless metahuman problem often. It was chaos, but neither of them minded. They managed to find their normal within the chaos.

When you’re four, as Leonard and Sara’s daughter Rory was, chaos takes a form in different ways, one of which was the center of that afternoon’s events.

Both Leonard and Sara had been called into S.T.A.R. Labs to help the Flash defeat a meta. Rory was supposed to be in her favorite gymnastics class at the same time, and her parents were trying to console her after telling her she wouldn’t be able to make it.

“Rory, honey, I’m sorry,” Sara said, “But I told you, Daddy and I have to go to work today. You’ll be able to go next week though, I promise.”

Rory’s wailing only increased in volume.

The basement door opened and Mick’s lumbering form entered the kitchen.

“What’s with all the noise?” he grunted, glancing at Rory crying into her stuffed lion at the kitchen island.

“Rory’s upset because we can’t get her to gymnastics today,” Sara explained as Leonard picked up Rory, attempting to console her by rubbing comforting circles on her back.

“I could take her,” Mick said.

“Really?” Sara asked skeptically.

“Sure,” Mick shrugged, “It’s not like I’m doing anything else.”

“Did you hear that, Rory?” Leonard whispered to his daughter, “Uncle Mick said he’d take you to gymnastics.”

Rory’s sobs instantly subsided. She picked her head up.

“Really,” she asked, wiping the tears off her face with the side of her arm.

“Yeah,” he nodded, “but you have to go get ready now or you’re gonna be late.”

Rory twisted out of Leonard’s arms and ran upstairs. Sara began to pull together a bag of stuff for Rory.

“You can take our car,” she said, jumping into full mom-mode as she filled Rory’s purple plastic water bottle, “the one with the carseat in it. I’m pretty sure Rory knows how to get there, but if she doesn’t, it’s already programmed into the GPS. Her class is from 10:30 to 11:30, so, I dunno, bring a book or something.”

“And don’t kill anyone,” Leonard added.

“Yeah, don’t do that,” Sara said sternly, “Rory really likes this gymnastics place. Don’t ruin it by murdering someone.”

“I’ll be good,” Mick waved her off.

“I’m ready,” Rory came bounding down the stairs and into the kitchen. She was wearing a green sparkly leotard and her blonde hair was pulled into a very messy ponytail.

Sara gestured for him to come over to her and when she did, Sara pulled the hair tie out and started to do a proper ponytail.

“Be good for Uncle Mickey, okay?” Sara said.

“Mmm-hmm,” Rory nodded, standing patiently as her mother did her hair.

“Have fun.”

* * *

 

So Mick did what Sara asked; he brought Rory to gymnastics (Rory did _not_ know how to get there, but with the GPS muted, Mick let her think she was). He got her into her class and then moved into the visitors room, where he could watch Rory in her class through a big window.

He was the only man there; the rest were middle-aged women, some who had taken a decided interest in him.

“Who are you here with?” one had asked him.

“I brought my friends’ daughter,” he answered, choosing not to meet her eyes, instead watching Rory walk across a balance beam.

“Oh, who’s your friend’s daughter?” she persisted.

“Rory,” he replied, tipping his head towards the balance beam.

“Rory Snart?” she clarified.

Mick nodded once.

“ _Oh_ ,” the woman’s voice traveled up several octaves as she glanced surreptitiously at her friends behind her, “How nice.”

Mick was aware of the storm Rory was creating at gymnastics. She was so similar to both her parents in so many ways — it wasn’t possible for her to be an easy kid, but the world likes an easy kid.

He’d overheard a discussion between Leonard and Sara after a particularly bad conversation the latter had heard at another gymnastics class. He suspected that the woman who’d caused such a sadness from the badass assassin was the same one who was currently talking to him.

So he turned away from them. He ignored the hushed whispers behind him and watched Rory in her class.

She was very good, although he could have already said that based on the stuff he saw her do around the house. Nonetheless, it was interesting seeing her in an actual class.

Several weeks before, she’d been pushed into the older class, so while the other three and four-year-olds were doing somersaults down a foam ramp, Rory was with the seven and eight-year-olds, doing handstands and tumbling and actually using the gymnastics equipment. 

Not too long later, the same woman spoke to him again.

“Sorry to bother you,” she said, “But where are Sara and Leonard?”

“At work,” he answered.

“Oh really?” the woman said, “They work? What do they do?”

Mick was starting to hate this woman, and how with her wide eyes and sweet smile she seemed to feel entitled to the answer to her question.

“What’s it matter to you?” he asked.

She narrowed her eyes for a moment, clearly not expecting this much difficulty in getting the information she wanted.

“It matters to me because I’m not always sure Rory’s growing up in a healthy household,” she said, “I wasn’t sure until you mentioned it that either of her parents were employed.”

Now it was Mick’s turn to narrow his eyes.

“Well I’ve been living there for a few months,” he said, “I think that makes me a pretty good judge ‘a what goes on in that house.”

“And?”

“And she’s a happy kid,” he replied, “Just because she isn’t exactly like your kid doesn’t make her any better or worse, just different.”

“Well,” the woman cleared her throat and sat further back in her chair, “Okay then.”

Mick could tell she wasn’t satisfied, but she also didn’t try to speak to him again, which was more than Mick could ask for.

When the class was over, Rory bounded into the visitors room and over to Mick.

“Hey kid,” he said, “How was your class?”

“Good,” she nodded, “I learned how to do a backbend on the balance beam, only sometimes I fall.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Mick could see the same women who’d been speaking to him before watching them with expressions varying from suspicion to vague interest.

“I don’t know what that means,” he replied, “but good for you.”

Mick waited for her to get her shoes and coat on and then they headed back home.

* * *

 

A few hours later, Leonard and Sara returned from helping Barry.

They walked into the house to see a disaster in the kitchen. A foaming white substance was splattered on the counters and up the walls. Rory was sitting cross-legged on the counter top with her hands in a container of a purple sludge-like substance. Mick had apparently had the common sense to change her out of her gymnastics leotard because she was wearing a cotton skirt and a t-shirt streaked with food coloring and what appeared to be glue. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail that was somehow worse than the one she’d done that morning.

Mick was leaning against the counter with his sleeves rolled up.

They both looked up when Leonard and Sara walked in.

“Mommy!” Rory exclaimed, “Look what me and Mickey Mouse made!”

“That’s _great_ , honey,” Sara said warily, “What exactly is it?”

“Slime,” Rory answered, giggling as she squished the slime in her hands. Some slipped between her fingers, dripping onto the counter and Rory’s skirt.

Sara looked over to Mick with an expression of pure disbelief on her face.

“You made her slime?” Leonard asked Mick before Sara could say anything.

“She asked me to,” Mick shrugged.

“She asked me yesterday if she could make a beach in the bathroom,” Sara said incredulously, “That doesn’t mean I let her. Anyway, how did you even know how?”

“Googled it,” Mick answered, “By the way, you’re out of shaving cream, glue, and laundry detergent.”

There was a moment of stunned silence.

“Well, I had no part in this, so I’m going. Have fun cleaning it all up,” Sara finally said, and she turned on her heels, walking towards the stairs.

Leonard’s eyes followed his wife until she was out of sight. He looked back just in time to see Rory push her hair out of her face, streaking the blonde with purple slime that he knew would be near impossible to get out.

“You’re cleaning her up too,” he said before following Sara.

Mick looked over to Rory, who was now ankle deep in the vat of pink slime.

“Mickey Mouse,” she said, “I think I’m stuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to Neil12 on FF.net for requesting this!


	6. School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In honor of the school year beginning once again, here is Rory Snart's first day of kindergarten! Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I received this as a prompt so long ago that I don't even remember who requested it (sorry!), but here it is!

“Are you excited, baby?” Sara asked, a question she’d been posing to her five-year-old daughter since last night — the night before Rory Snart’s first day of kindergarten.

She looked into the rearview mirror to see Rory nod.

“You’re gonna have so much fun,” she told her, “I promise.”

The words were meant to reassure Rory, but Leonard could tell that his wife needed them more than their kid did.

Truth be told, Sara was having a much harder time with Rory starting school than she’d expected. She’d never thought she was one of those clingy moms who couldn’t bear to be away from their kid, and she wasn’t; not really. Yes, it was gonna be hard to watch Rory go, but she’d adjust. She just needed to rip off the band-aid.

“We’re here,” she said when they finally pulled into the elementary school parking lot.

“Let’s go!” Rory yelped, attempting to jump out of her seat, only to be stopped by several straps and buckles of her carseat. She was nearly shivering with excitement as Leonard detached her from the car.

Rory knew where her classroom was from kindergarten orientation a few days ago, so once she was out of the car, she led Leonard and Sara though the elementary school. Finally, they walked up to a door that was propped open and covered in colorful paper.

Rory’s teacher — a young woman with sparkling blue eyes and light brown hair — knelt down as they approached her.

“Hello Rory,” she said enthusiastically, “Welcome! Are you ready for your first day of kindergarten?”

“Yeah!” Rory said excitedly.

“So am I,” she exclaimed, “Say goodbye to your Mommy and Daddy and then we can get the day started!”

“Okay,” Rory chirped, turning to face her parents with a smile on her face.

Sara crouched down to her height.

“Don’t be nervous,” she said anxiously as she straighten the collar of Rory’s blouse, “You’re gonna have so much fun!”

“I know,” Rory giggled, “I’m not nervous.”

“Good,” Sara nodded, “Good. C’mere.”

She pulled her daughter into her arms, one hand going to the back of her head to run through her soft blond hair.

“I love you so much,” she said.

“I love you too, Mommy,”

Rory pulled away and wrapped her arms around Leonard’s legs. He lifted her up into his arms.

“We’re gonna miss you around the house, kiddo,” he said as he rested her cheek on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon,” Rory said comfortingly.

“I know,” he smiled, kissing her cheek.

He put her on the ground and she started towards the door.

The sight of Rory walking into her classroom all by herself, with her purple backpack that was more than half her size and the matching lunchbox in her hand, made Sara’s heart pang.

She grabbed Leonard’s arm, her fingers gripping the leather of his jacket.

“When did she grow up?” she asked, blinking furiously. Three of the mothers around her were crying and she was determined to not be another one.

“She’s five,” Leonard pointed out.

“I know.”

Just as Rory passed through the classroom doorway, she turned and waved at her parents with a huge smile on her face. Then she ran into the classroom and out of sight.

“Ugh, I want her back,” Sara groaned, tipping her head back.

Leonard turned and pulled her into a hug. Sara wrapped her arms around his waist, her forehead pressed against his chest.

“She’ll be fine,” he reassured her.

“I know,” she replied, “But I won’t.”

As they started walking out of the school, Leonard engulfed Sara’s hand in his.

“You’ve survived a lot worse than this.”

“No I haven’t,” she grumbled.

“Alright,” he surrendered, “Hey, have you visited your gravestone recently?”

“Shut up.”


End file.
